§ 2-367. Destruction of police records.

(a)

Purpose. The purpose of this section is to establish records retention schedules for police records and authorize destruction of police records pursuant to the schedule on an annual basis. Records custodians do not have the authority to destroy records prior to the established retention period unless such records have been photographically reproduced as original records pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 16.61(7) and under this section.

(b)

Historical records. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin (SHSW) has waived the required 60-day statutory notice under Wis. Stats. § 19.21(5)(d) for the records marked "W" which designates waived notice. SHSW must be notified prior to destruction of records marked "N" designating nonwaiver. "N/A" indicates not applicable and applies to all records designated for permanent retention.

(c)

Destruction after request for inspection. No requested record may be destroyed until after the request is granted or 60 days after the request is denied. If an action is to commence under Wis. Stats. § 19.37, the requested record may not be destroyed until a court order is issued and all appeals have been completed.

(d)

Destruction pending litigation. No record subject to pending litigation shall be destroyed until the litigation has been resolved.

(e)

Microfilming records. Any police department records can be kept on microfilm provided the applicable standards established in Wis. Stats. § 16.61(7) are met. Factors such as retention periods and estimated costs and benefits of converting records between different medias should be considered in deciding whether or not to microfilm. The retention periods identified in this article apply to records in any media.

(f)

Listing of records. All of the records listed as follows have been given a "W" designation by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin:

	Record	Retention
(1)	Radio tape recordings	CR + 120 days
(2)	Video tapes of patrol activities	CR + 120 days
(3)	Overnight parking permissions	CR + 120 days
(4)	Jail register	CR + 8 years
(5)	Personnel files	EVT + 8 years
(6)	Incidents and complaints	CR + 10 years
(7)	Arrest records including support documents	EVT + 8 years
(8)	Traffic and parking ordinance violations	EVT + 1 year
(9)	Municipal ordinance violations	EVT + 2 years
(10)	Traffic accident reports	EVT + 8 years
(11)	Juvenile violation reports	EVT + 7 years
(12)	Municipal or circuit court dockets	EVT + 180 days (final decision)
(13)	Fine and fee collection records	CR + 3 years
(14)	Correspondence	CR + 7 years
(15)	Purchase orders	EVT + 7 years
(16)	License and permit applications and related investigations	EVT + 7 years
(17)	Bicycle licenses	EVT + 3 years
(18)	Administrative reports and statistics	CR + 7 years
(19)	Property inventory reports	EVT (until superseded)
(20)	Calls for service logs	CR + 3 years
(21)	Vacant property check requests	CR + 2 years
(22)	Vehicle maintenance records	EVT (life of vehicle)
(23)	Radio logbooks	CR + 3 years
(24)	Teletype message records	CR + 3 years
(25)	Dispatch case number assignments	CR + 3 years

 

Legend: CR means time is counted from creation or receipt of the record. EVT means an event such as filing a lawsuit or writing a ticket and time is counted from the date of this significant event. The date is specified above.

(g)

Approval of section. This section has been reviewed and approved by the state public records and forms board on February 17, 1993.

(Code 1991, § 4.08)